Free Life In The Palace by Catherine Green Page A

peered over my shoulder.
    “Not much, my mom isn’t into cooking. She’s more of a cake mix type herself. My grandma Mary was an amazing cook, but she didn’t let anyone in the kitchen. She said she couldn’t cook with people standing under her feet. Did I do something wrong?”
    Seth nodded slowly, “Nothing that can’t be fixed.” He turned back to Simone “Excuse me for a minute.” Then he wrapped his toned arms around me and put his hands over mine. “Here’s an onion. After you cut it in half, take off the skin and the two outer layers, then we hold the knife like this, now cut into strips and then turn it around to make small cubes.”
    I tried not to feel his body pressed against mine, or worry that Simone would need to leave the room to vomit, and just concentrated on being a good student.
    When the three of us sat around the kitchen table, having enjoyed a meal on Grandma Mary’s level, Simone raised her glass to me. “We can definitely keep him, Chloe.” She turned to Seth, “The rent is five hundred dollars a month, payable in cash to me and then I write a check for the landlord.”
    I was horrified by how appealing and natural the idea seemed, even if she was joking.
    “You might come to want to charge me rent, but right now, officially at least, I live with my brother on Aylmer.”
    I got up and started to do the dishes. It was my usual chore.
    “I’ll do it, Chloe. You young things go and enjoy yourselves.” Simone laughed at her joke, and began clearing up, humming under her breath.
    “If you don’t mind I want to change before we go out.” I said as we headed back to my room.
    He took the opportunity to go look at my balcony, which I suspected was code for grab a smoke.
    By the time Seth came back, I had switched my jeans for black capri pants with a white ruffled shirt. My high-heeled ankle boots brought us to nearly the same height.
    “Did you paint the room yourself?” he asked as I applied makeup.
    “No. Before Simone had the apartment, this room was a dining room. The other tenant liked dark green walls. The girl who shared with Simone before me never bothered to paint. I kind of like it. I found the chandelier in a junk shop. I thought it was dramatic.”
    “It has a pleasant Anne Rice feel to it.” I was glad he approved.
    “Do you want to walk?” he made it sound like a normal request.
    “All the way downtown?” He might still be joking.
    Seth laughed, “That was a no, then. Don’t look at me like that. At this time of day, it’s getting cooler, and it’s basically a level walk or downhill all the way. We still don’t have to meet them for a couple of hours. We could sit by the water.”
    We walked.
    “You’ll need boots,” he commented as we started out.
    I looked pointedly at my feet.
    “For the winter. These ones are great in the fashion department but how much snow do they really keep out?”
    “I’m serious. You’ll need to get some good thermal waterproof boots for the winter.” He rubbed his thumb on my palm as we walked holding hands down the tree lined street.
    “Dwayne has been telling me all these Montreal winter horror stories. He says that Montreal has four distinct seasons: Almost winter, winter, still winter and summer.”
    Seth laughed out loud. “It’s actually true.”
    “Tell me about your mother,” I asked quickly to avoid any further weather related tension.
    He smiled but let me get away with it.
    “That you didn’t hear already from Josh?” he raised one eyebrow.
    “Josh says she’s ultra-healthy, she decorated your apartment and I presume she taught you to cook.”
    Seth thought for a minute. “My mother is very controlled emotionally. She’s pretty controlled about everything. She has high expectations and specific ideas about what’s acceptable. We all try to please her. Sometimes we succeed. She’s a caring woman who just doesn’t know that much about being loving.”
    “It doesn’t sound like she’s the easiest